Month: June 2017

Being a golf professional for almost 20 years now and watching, listening to, and performing tens of thousands of golf lessons, I have to call bull&*$% on that statement.

I have seen that statement written, and have heard it from many sources and I’m here to tell you once and for all it’s simply NOT true! If you are trying to change something, and get the right information on what it is you absolutely HAVE to do in order to strike a golf ball with some consistency, you will improve immediately, and continue to improve as you work on the basic fundamentals and understand what it is you have to get done every time, more on that later.

I believe this statement comes from the PGA Tour, and articles describing the best players in the world, the diﬀerence is, they are trying to undo positions in their golf swing that has been honed with countless thousands of practice balls and hundreds of hours perfecting what got them to the tour.

When you read about, or observe a Tour golfer trying to make changes in their swing, they are undoing hundreds of hours of perfecting something diﬀerent, and while it seems they are struggling trying to make cuts and implement at the highest level of the game in the world, we see that as a digression in their swings. This is simply not true…they are still among the best players on the planet while they make the change, but they all have one thing in common…the basic fundamentals and their intimate understanding of cause and eﬀect is still in tact while they make seemingly minute changes in their delivery of the golf club.

As an amateur player trying to get to the next level of play, whether it’s breaking 100 / 90 / 80 or getting to a single digit handicap, it all comes down to your understanding and implementation of the basic fundamentals of consistent ball striking.
Center of Gravity Golf focuses you on the three basic fundamentals of golf before teaching you the three pieces of the golf swing and the proper sequence they go in. If the three basic fundamentals break down, it doesn’t matter how pretty your swing is or how much your equipment costs, you will not improve… period, and the best thing is…EVERY miss hit shot can be traced to one of the three fundamentals.
Success in YOUR golf game (whatever level success is for you) depends 100% on how good you are at three things…how well do you maintain your Center of Gravity triangle as you swing the club around your body. This geometry is controlled by 3 things 1) boss ﬁngers, (controls where the bottom of your swing happens every time), 2) Your feet (which controls the base of your triangle) and 3) your face, (which controls the side-to-side motion of your triangle). The better you get at these three things, the better you get, it happens immediately, and only improves every day until it becomes automatic.

Professional players work on these fundamentals every day, and that’s why they can make changes to their ball ﬂight at the highest level and still hang with the best players in the world, their fundamentals are practically ﬂawless, they understand what they are and how to control them. Conversely…when they get away from the basic fundamentals of consistency, the struggle is almost unbearable for them, sometimes causing injury and always causing confusion. This was never so clear to me after watching our Canadian hero Mike Weir try to make changes to the fundamentals, and we all know how painful that has been for us to watch.

So don’t fall into the trap of (it has to get worse, before it gets better) follow the Center of Gravity golf system, work on your skill set, and stop looking for the silver bullet tip, it just doesn’t exist!
Play better today…

While we all know commentary is nothing but an opinion shaped by perceived ideals, morality, and values stuffed into our sponge-like brains by our caretakers, media, and religion, while we struggle to develop our personality.

That’s why I never bought into the whole “Role Model” moniker thrust upon any one of us who falls into the “extraordinary person” category. The problem I have with that is the person is usually “extraordinary” at only one thing. Take Tiger for example, The media seems to feel we need to see these people being “people” outside of their profession we all love to watch. I don’t need to see Tiger anywhere else but the golf course, that’s where he shines…not in the tabloids. Magazines saying“What’s wrong with Tiger?” I’ll tell you what’s wrong with Tiger,he’s human.

Why do we have a “build em up…and take em down” attitude these days with athletes?…and don’t say it’s because of the money they make. They only make as much as the people who pay them based on what WE will spend because of their talent. Eldrick was raised to become Tiger, and had a very different experience than most of us. Judging him for human indiscretions simply puts a negative “spin” on all the great moments he gave us on the golf course.

Moe Norman said it best “Don’t try to be like me…you can’t be me…you have to be you”. In a world where everyone is his or her own news service with a camera / recorder / & video studio right in their pocket, just be grateful we are not as famous as Tiger, or TMZ would be airing our dirty laundry for the righteous world to judge us by. Glass houses stand as much of a chance against golf balls as they do stones. I hope he recovers enough to thrill us with his undeniable talent, and finds love and peace in his personal and Professional life.

I don’t write commentary pieces much anymore, they really are only opinions and as you know, everybody has one. The first hot topic this week is Erin Hills Golf Course, the host of this years US Open.

The course has come under a lot of fire recently for the “unfair rough” where Tour Players may (god forbid) lose a ball or two… welcome to our world.

I really welcome a golf course like this for those players, they are the best in the world and everyone plays the same venue so what’s the problem? I believe the problem is that “golf” used to be; Fairways, Greens, Putts and now, on the big tour it’s more like; drive, wedge, chip, and putt. A venue that puts the emphasis on accuracy off the tee gives the Strickers, Pavins, and the Weirs of the PGA Tour a chance against the Watsons, Johnsons, and the McElroy’s.

Keep the ball in play and you will always have a shot! The course looks lush and beautiful right now, I sincerely hope the USGA / PGA Tour does not stress it out like they did Chambers Bay in Seattle, That was a very bad representation of the Chambers Bay course. Having played there I can tell you it is lush, green, beautiful, and a pleasure to play. It is not the bombed out pasture they showed us at the Open. Erin Hills looks very inviting as well, however if I was playing there this week, I couldn’t afford enough for caddies to keep me in golf balls.